Heroes of Sugar Rush Stuck
by Epic and Legendary
Summary: Twelve kids search for clues as to who kidnapped their president. Eight other kids journey to keep their game from being unplugged. And while all this is going on, they fight to keep their friends safe. Rated T because I'm paranoid. (There's also a little romance and a small bit of mystery.)
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Going Turbo

The short figure dashed through the dark bare land that was his game. He was wearing a ridiculously large sweatshirt, the hood pulled low over his face. He cut rather a silly and ungainly figure, as the sweatshirt trailed behind him, sort of like a woman's wedding dress, except it was a deep green color, and he had snatched it from an unsuspecting, um, dare I say: Guard?

He tripped over it and cursed softly, tugging it from around his feet. "Stupid sweatshirt," he hissed.

"You can't let him get away! Get him!" A guard shouted. "Come on, his legs are short, he can't get too far!"

"Unlike us, speed is in his code!" Another guard snapped in response.

"You bet speed is in my code," he whispered. He pulled something from his sleeve, a slim rectangle the color of an evening plum. Tripping, he stuffed it back in his sleeve. There it was! The train to the Game Central Station! All he had to do to be safe was get there. The short boy sped up, pulling up the sweatshirt. He looked back as he ran towards the train. He smiled with relief, "I'm almost out of this stupid game forever."

Just then, one of the guards made a huge leap at the boy, trying to grab him. He would have missed completely if the sweatshirt hadn't been so long. The guard's hands fell on the back hem, gaining hold on a large fistful of fabric, effectively stopping the boy. The sudden stop on the momentum caused the boy to trip, then smack into the ground painfully, ripping holes in his knees and elbows.

"Get off of me!" He yelled, aiming punches and kicks at the guard. The guard gripped the sweatshirt tighter, drawing the fabric closer, trying to reel in the boy. The boy wiggled his way out of the sweatshirt and ran down to the train. He bit his lip, trying to calm his nerves. "Almost safe, almost there," he muttered.

The boy had been wearing a fur collared coat under the sweatshirt. The fur was stained tan, but you could tell it was originally white. It had a badge on the shoulder that read 'air force' and a wing shaped pin on the right side of the chest. His black jeans had torn horribly, but the sweatshirt had protected his jacket. He had night black hair, and frightened dark eyes. Of course, those eyes were determined by his programming.

Finally, he was in the train. The game disappeared behind him, but the guards did not seem to want to give up, trying to find a way to get to him.

The boy could see the Game Central Station now, and his game was far behind him. He grinned, letting his hair blow back by the force of the train rushing through the tunnel. Finally he reached the station. He ran through the station, ignoring the beeping and the blue man writing tickets. He looked around for a game where he wouldn't be an adorable, useless, mess. There! Sugar Rush.

Vriska enjoyed breaking the law. She didn't care much for President Vanellope, and since Vanellope had become president, coding had been outlawed so that no one would ever mistakenly be a glitch again. That was stupid, if you were careful no one would ever become a glitch. Besides, coding was the only way to have fun around here.

Vriska passed her code. It was weird, seeing her own code, like seeing yourself in dream. But she'd seen it before, so it wasn't as weird as it could have been. The code floated around slowly like they were suspended in outer space. Vriska spotted a code box she hadn't seen before.

"Hey, look at this." Vriska murmured to herself. It sounded watery and echoey, as if both in a cave and an ocean at the same time. She drifted towards the code, as if she were swimming. She chuckled to herself, remembering something she'd heard a player singing.

"'Just keep swimming.' That's so dumb." Vriska smirked as she opened the code box. She smiled. Now time to ruin a life as delicately and expertly as possible. She glanced to the left, a familiar code box drifting in the thick air. Vriska didn't dare mess with that one anymore. That code belonged to a close friend, and he already had way too many issues to be messed with any longer. Vriska turned back to the open code in front of her. She moved around some properties. Ones and zeroes flashed behind the attributes she noticed. Vriska grabbed something.

"Perfect." Vriska grinned. She pulled at the piece of code, but unlike normally, it refused to come out. Vriska grunted, pulling harder. And suddenly, the code box shattered, pieces flying everywhere. One piece flew straight into Vriska's face, scratching her eyes horribly. Blood dripped down her face, and into her mouth, tasting strongly of licorice. She yelped in pain, collapsing into a ball. Breathing heavily, Vriska gathered the shattered pieces hurriedly into her red sweater, trying to get done as soon as possible. And then she swam off and touched down in the doorway. She ran through the tunnel, not giving much attention to the distracting light blue tubes running along the walls. Vriska slammed into a boy.

"Watch it!" Vriska snapped, and hurriedly picked up the pieces she'd dropped. And then she ran off again, forgetting one small piece, and leaving the boy standing in the doorway, wondering what all of that was about. The boy picked up the piece of code she had dropped.

"Hey, you dropped-" The boy looked down the tunnel, but the girl was long gone. Uselessly, he completed his sentence, "-this."

The boy padded timidly down the hall, holding his code tightly in one hand, and the piece of code the strange girl had dropped in the other. Light blue tubes ran down the sides of the tunnel, giving off an eerie blue light. He padded softly down into the code room. The rectangular pieces of code floated around like they were on a space mission. Wires tethered down the code, and they swung to and fro like charmed snakes. He floated to a large box labeled "PLAYERS". Code squares swung around the box, their wires threatening to entangle him. One wire floated off by itself. He grabbed it and held up his code square, preparing to snap it in.

He gripped the small, broken piece of code the girl had dropped tighter. Looking at it sadly, he cursed softly and snapped it onto the wire instead. This wire probably had been that piece of code's to begin with.

"I need a free wire," he whispered. "If I were the, whatever rules this place, where would I keep my spare wires?" He twisted around, trying to spot something, anything, that could have wires. Preferably a cabinet labeled "Spare Wires" in bold lettering.

Instead, a wire floated past, like some weird space alien. His hand shot out and snatched it from the air. "Convenient!" He exclaimed, then looked around warily. "A little too convenient." He did a full survey of the room, but noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Well, except there was a boy adding himself to the code. But other than that, nothing.

He snapped in his code, and felt the change immediately. He dissolved into 1 and 0 for a second, then rematerialized. His build changed; stronger, sturdier, less fragile. The holes in his jeans had been repaired, and they had changed from denim blue to dark black. His eyes lost their frightened look, replaced by a determined glimmer. On his black shirt an icon of a lemon shimmered into view, with the words "Lemon Drop" in yellow beneath. His jeans had knee patches on them in the shape of lemons. His design changed, but only slightly, the details of his code shifting to format this game.

Excitedly, he padded out of the room, down several halls, and snuck out of... what looked like to be a palace.

Standing on a cliff edge, he looked out over the quiet, sleeping game. Candy mountains, soda rivers, and other sugary landscapes spread out like a candy store tapestry beneath. He smiled softly and stared down at the land, a wind tugging at his dark hair. "Get ready," he whispered. "Because I'm coming."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN- Not my best chapter, but not the worst. I guess it's mostly my fault since I don't create very good representations of homestuck characters, and my co-writer hasn't read homestuck. (She tried, but apparently couldn't get past the whole John/Cake/Nanasprite part.) Anyway, you asked for it. Well, someone did. I don't really care who. ~Legendary**

_**Chapter One**_

_Life in Organized Chaos_

Equius was working business as usual. He was managing Equius's Cart Hut. They did many things, and Equius obviously owned the place. Seriously, how dumb do you have to be to think otherwise? Equius had three types of workers. There were the cart designers and creators, of which he was the best. Then there were the cart repairers. There weren't too many of them, people seemed to think that the job was beneath them and didn't offer enough prestige. And finally there were the upgraders. Most of them did upgrades manually, but a few were Coders.

Leo wasn't one of those people who thought the job of repairs were beneath him. Actually, people who didn't know him well thought that he had no standards. For anything. Like, eat-food-off-the-street kind of no standards. But people who knew him knew that he had standards. Just, they were random, and weird, and made no sense at times. Like him. Speaking of Leo, Equius had to keep a close eye on him. He took breaks at random times, but worked hard when he thought no one was looking. And sometimes he did a bit of all three jobs, which was something not usually appreciated.

See, Leo was a Coder. That means that he could actually code new pieces, and affect the code of the game around him. Like literally just pull new stuff out of the air. Which was pretty cool, except Leo got easily distracted, and when someone was as ADD as he, pulling stuff out of the air could be really not...helpful, to put it politely. To put it stronger, sometimes Equius wanted to smack Leo so hard in the face that even with his coding powers, Leo wouldn't be able to see straight again.

Leo wore red-brown cargo shorts with baggy pockets that could fit almost anything. Or, Leo just knew how to make it seem that way. He wore a similar coat with not as baggy pockets, and some really awesome buttons. Under that coat he had a grenade sash stocked with hot tamale candies. And his bright red boots stood out against almost everything, but strangely didn't clash completely horribly. One of his closest friends could stick pieces of carts back together, but wasn't that great at repairing the inner workings of the cart. Her name was Piper, but at least she was more focused and a better employee. Hey, I'm not saying she's employee of the month. She also had her issues.

Equius sighed. He didn't have time to complain about his employees, a really close friend was coming to visit. He grabbed a rag from a bucket and started polishing a cart, so as to appear busy. He pulled his beanie away from his forehead, to look more attractive. Hopefully he looked more attractive. His friend was _really _close. Or at least, he hoped she was. Equius stared down at his pants. Was that frosting on his pants? Gumballs, he was a mess. Equius scraped the frosting off of his chocolate coated pants and stuck it in his mouth. Mmm!

"Hi, Eggwius!" a cheery voice squeaked. Equius jumped and turned to see Nepeta, sprinkles and all, standing next to him. He pulled his finger out of his mouth.

"Um, hi, Nepeta. And why are you calling me Eggwius again?" Equius asked.

"Well, I decided my best friend needed a nickname, seeing as most of my other friends do, and I felt like Eck was stupid. So, now you're Eggwius!" Nepeta grinned.

"No, no, I'm not." Equius said as politely as possible. "How about Super Awesome Guy?"

Nepeta considered it for a moment. "No, doesn't really have a good ring. "Eggwius it is!" She flounced around in circles, giggling "Eggwius! Eggwius! Eggwius!"

As she singsonged the nickname he was now stuck with, Equius sniffed the air. A strong sprinkle scent was scattered into the air, wafting from the pirouetting girl. Sprinkles also fell from her super adorable black curls and scattered onto the floor. If there was anyone more amazing than Nepeta, Equius would eat his hat. And he loved his hat. But it would be delicious to eat, seeing as it was made of blueberries and cocoa. Equius laughed as Nepeta tripped over the hem of the much too large sweatshirt she'd discovered a while back in Vanellope's palace. It went well with her brilliant green eyes, seeing as it was a deep forest color. Equius had always wondered how it had gotten there, but he didn't mind. He had more important things to worry about. Besides, Nepeta looked too adorable with the sleeves completely covering her hands for him to think about it. Nepeta moved her sweatshirt out of the way and twirled her short pink skirt, looking completely adorable with it's small design of sprinkles.

And that's when an alright day became a very, very bad day. The large window was crashed through with a sugar cube. Nepeta squealed in fear, and Equius pushed her underneath a cart. Three carts zoomed into the shop through the now broken window. From one hopped Vriska, her licorice leggings matching the bandage on her right eye. She grinned mischievously.

"Gimme the best cart you got." Vriska demanded. From another cart came a boy with black hair, an eye patch a lot like Vriska's and a bad smell lingering from him, the smell of a double crossing jerk. And from another cart hopped another girl. But this girl had an irresistible beauty, with a dark chill in her heart.

"And make it snappy, we don't have all day." Vriska added. "Especially Khione, this summer heat could literally kill her."

"I'm not giving you a cart, you ruffians! Get out of here, we don't tolerate President will surely throw you in jail." Equius growled. Vriska laughed, Khione and the boy following her, until she snapped her fingers and they went back to glaring.

"Your precious 'president' isn't around anymore." Vriska snapped.

"She's the president, her power doesn't go away!" Equius shot back. He felt Nepeta's hand nervously grab his pants leg.

Vriska stepped uncomfortably close to him, growling haughtily, "It does if she isn't in the game anymore."

Vriska looked around the room. She turned to examine the carts, whacking Equius with her hair.

"Hey!" He yelped, rubbing the spot. "That hurt."

"Awww, poor baby," said Vriska mockingly, making a pouty face. "Do you need a doctor? If you're good, you get a lollipop."

He glared at her, not able to come up with a proper retort. Instead he focused on the most alarming thing Vriska had said so far. "What do you mean, the President isn't in the game anymore?"

She looked at him incredulously. "What don't you understand? Here, I'll say it slowly so even you can understand: President Vanellope is not in the game anymore. There, better?" She smiled coldly and went back to examining the wheels of one of the carts.

"I know she's not in the game anymore! But even now, her law is clear! You have to pay for my window, and you can't just come in here demanding a free cart!" Equius shouted. Vriska straightened up.

"Ethan, show him what's wrong with his statement." Vriska said, her hands on her hips. Ethan, the boy with an eye patch, whipped out a long thin blade, made of peppermint. He held it up to Equius's nose.

"Eggwius!" Nepeta exclaimed and slid out from under the cart. She kicked the blade out of Ethan's hand, causing him to yelp in shock and a little bit of pain. Vriska whipped around to see what happened.

Khione lunged forward and grabbed Nepeta and held her still, gripping Nepeta's arms and yanking them behind her back. Nepeta yelped in alarm and pain, wincing as her arms were pulled back uncomfortably far.

Equius gritted his teeth. "Fine, Vriska. You win. You can have your cart."

"You bet I can. I'll take this one." Vriska grinned placing her foot on a red one with flames painted on it. Leo leaped up from the corner.

"No you can't! That's my favorite!" Leo exclaimed. Piper popped up beside him and grabbed his arm.

"You guys were hiding! Why didn't you help?" Equius yelled, annoyed.

Leo shrugged. "Sorry. We, were, uh, looking for some entertainment." He winked at Equius, and glanced pointedly, and good humoredly, at Nepeta. Equius blushed. "But then this happened and we were waiting for a moment for a dramatic entrance. And hey, mine was pretty great, huh?!"

"Look, none of this is important. Ciao!" Vriska smirked, and drove off in her new cart. Well, Leo's old cart. Khione kicked Nepeta's legs out from under her so that she landed on the floor, and hopped into her cart, following Vriska. Ethan groaned. He hooked Vriska's old cart to his, and drove after them. Equius helped Nepeta up to her feet.

"Are you okay?" Equius asked. Nepeta rolled up her sleeves and examined her wrists.

"Yeah, I think so." Nepeta responded absently. Equius smiled.

"Good."

"Leo, you can't just go saying things like that! He hasn't even told her, and you might have just given her a hint, gumballs, you're so embarrassing!" Equius heard Piper hiss from the corner.

Nepeta looked up cheerfully. "Told who what? Huh? What are we talking about? What! What! TELL ME!" She giggled and clapped. "Is this a guessing game? Can I play? Oooo, yay! This'll be fun!"

"Now look who's giving hints." Leo grinned. Piper went red and buried her face in her honey chiton. Equius went redder, if that was possible.

"What is it Equius, what're they talking about?" Nepeta squealed. And then, Equius remembered something.

"The surprise I made for you!" Equius said. Leo and Piper looked at each other curiously. Equius shot daggers at them with his eyes. "Right, guys?"

"Uh, yeah!" said Piper. Leo nodded, not quite trusting his words, worried he'd burst out laughing.

"Come on, it's in the back." Equius said. He led Nepeta towards a curtained off area. "Close your eyes!"

"Oh, okay!" Nepeta said. She closed her eyes. Equius drew aside the curtain, and Piper and Leo gasped.

"Okay… open!" Equius said. Nepeta opened her eyes and saw the most amazing cart.

"Wow, Equius, this is amazing!" Nepeta giggled. But they had little time to celebrate this new development, because Terezi ran into the store, breathing heavily.

"Equius!... Nepeta!... I know who... kidnapped President... Vanellope!" Terezi managed to say between long, gasping breaths.

"You do?" Equius exclaimed. Terezi managed to regain her composure, sucking in a huge breath and straightening up.

"Well, not exactly…" Terezi said. She pulled a notebook out of her blazer's pocket. "But... I have a list of suspects." She flipped through the pages.

Equius raised his eyebrows. "How many? Like, a million?" He eyed her book. "Is that full of the suspects? Thats a rather long list then."

"No, on each page, I have one suspect and their possible motives. And most of these pages are from other cases." Terezi said. She opened to one page and held it out, a perfect perp sketch drawn next to the name and the possible motives written in bullet points. "Suspect one is Jack Noir. His motive, getting our game unplugged. He's never liked us."

Leo rubbed his hands together. "Great! Cop shows, are like, my life!" He crossed his arms and nodded seriously. "Right. He has motive, but does he have means? Did he have the opportunity to kidnap her?" He started humming the theme song for _Psych._

"Hey, this is my case. And who said we were working with you, Cinnamon?" Terezi growled. Leo managed to look hurt, while still crossing his arms and trying to look like a tv show detective.

"Terezi, he has a point." Equius said. Terezi glared at him. He looked sheepish, as he added, "I mean, when would he have had the chance to do it?"

"He's got goons to do his dirty work. And those goons have a lot of free time when the arcade is closed. Besides, he swore his game wouldn't go down without him getting us unplugged." Terezi said. Nepeta looked confused.

"So?" Piper asked.

"Yeah, who said the game was going down?" Leo asked.

"Did I forget to say? His game is being unplugged because one important character ran away. I don't know which, it's all very top secret, I could get my code deleted for even trying to find out." Terezi said.

Everyone shifted uncomfortably.

"Someone went _Turbo_?" whispered Piper, uttering the word like it was the worse of curses. Nepeta reached for Terezi's notebook and flipped the page. She gulped.

"Guys, you should see who suspect number two is…" Nepeta whimpered. Terezi showed them the second suspect. Leo and Piper gulped in fear.

"Kronos?" They said in trembling unison.

Equius looked at them quizzically. "What do you two have so much against Kronos?"

"Nothing, well, not directly. Our friends though… some of them have been through a lot thanks to Kronos…" Piper said, thinking specifically about Jason. Percy and Annabeth also came to mind, sure! But mainly Jason. Piper walked over to Terezi and leaned over the notebook to read the motive.

"He's a jerk? I don't think that's counts as a realistic motive." Piper said. Terezi scoffed.

"Who is the detective, me or you, Sticky Hair?" Terezi demanded she snapped her notebook closed. Piper self consciously reached for her hair. And quietly Terezi added, "But you're right, it doesn't. I was too lazy to write his motive down though."

"Then what is it?" demanded Piper, trying to wipe the honey from her hair onto her dress, which didn't work well as the dress was also made of honey.

"His motive is similar to Jack Noir, except that his is more of a burning hatred, the same hatred that led him to creating the Hera Virus." Terezi said, tucking her notebook into her blazer's pocket. Leo's eyebrows rammed together.

"What's the Hera Virus?" asked Nepeta, shuddering. "It sounds...evil."

"It is! It's a virus that was meant to wipe the memories permanently from all the sugar rush racers. But it only worked a little bit, and isn't very long lasting. The memories return after a while, and it only wipes recent memories. I feel like I know something more about it, but I can't quite put my finger on it right now." Leo explained.

Piper nudged him. "Jason, remember?"

"Right!" Leo said. "He beta tested it on my best friend, Jason. He's pretty much the only one who is affected by it." He growled bitterly. Speaking of the devil, Jason burst into the room, his pants sparking with each step and his hair damp with sweat.

"Piper, Leo! I was supposed to get this thing for… something! Something's happened to… uh… someone! Come on, come quick!" Jason shouted. Piper and Leo widened their eyes.

"Sorry, guys. Looks like you'll have to solve the mystery without us." Leo grinned nervously. Piper waved. They ran after Jason off towards wherever they were going. Terezi harrumphed.

"Good riddance! Come on, the others would like to know about this too." Terezi said. And so the kids all left the cart shop. And it was the last time any of them would see it in a very long time.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Two

Heroes of Sugar Rush

Annabeth and Frank stood over the pale boy, fanning him. Or, Frank was, Annabeth was checking for a pulse. Frank paused his fanning to straighten his hoodie. "I think he's dead."

"He's not dead, I'm getting a vague heart beat. I wonder why we've never seen him around the game before." Annabeth said.

Frank shrugged. "Maybe we got an update? Or maybe he's just a really secretive guy."

"Or maybe you're idiotically overcomplicating things. He may have been an unlockable character, those are only in the game for real once the player unlocks them." Annabeth said.

"So... He's a really powerful, really hard-to-unlock character? Then why is he dead?" Frank asked. Annabeth groaned in exasperation.

"He's not dead, Frank, he's just unconscious! And he may not be used to so much freedom. I know what it's like to be an unlockable character. All you see is a box, and it's just barely big enough for you to sit in. It's horrible." Annabeth shuddered.

The boy groaned, aiming a weak punch at Annabeth. She caught it in her fist. She frowned at the boy as he opened his eyes. "Bad idea."

He tried to tug his arm free, but was no match for someone who was, you know, not coming out of a coma. Annabeth released his arm and sat him up, leaning him against a tree.

"Who are you?" asked Annabeth. The boy was not paying attention. He was busy staring at his surroundings. "Hello?"

"Oh, um, sorry, it's just so beautiful," the boy said, staring wide-eyed at the sky. Frank sat down to look the boy in the face.

"What's beautiful?" Frank asked.

The boy looked at him. "Color. Freedom."

Frank drew back. "Maybe you're right" he whispered out of the corner of his mouth to Annabeth.

"I'm always right." Annabeth whispered back. She leaned down and started talking to the boy calmly like you would a lost and frightened child. "Hi. My name's Annabeth. What's yours?"

The boy looked down and tugged at his jacket. "Um, my name's Nico."

"Hey, Annabeth, I see Percy." Frank said, tugging on Annabeth's fingerless rainbow glove. Annabeth stood up and instinctively punched him in the stomach in one quick motion. Frank doubled over in pain, gasping for breath.

"Ooh! Sorry!" she yelped. "It's a reflex!"

Percy ran up, slightly out of breath. "Hi. What's going on with you guys?"

"Oh my gumballs, Percy, I punched Frank in the stomach!" Annabeth exclaimed.

Percy looked at Frank, then Annabeth. "Ok." He nodded.

Frank choked. "Ok! OK! What, do I just not matter?"

Hazel caught up with them and took a moment to catch her breath. She drew Frank and Nico's eyes. Her curly brown hair reached just past her shoulders, around to the hem of her short sleeves. Pausing to catch her breath, she took a moment to fix her headband so it didn't slip into her eyes. The rock candy shard on the headband stuck out, but her curly, chocolate colored hair covered up the headband, so rock candy looked like an island sticking out. Sticking from the hem of her dress were more bits of rock candy. If you asked her to twirl you could hear the tinkling sound like bells as the rock candy swished together.

"Hi, Hazel!" Frank squeaked in eager excitement. Percy and Annabeth looked at each other, exchanging looks that clearly said, Oh, that Frank is so silly, he really isn't hiding anything from anyone.

"Hmm? Oh, hello Frank. Hey, who's this?" Hazel knelt down next to Nico. Frank deflated visibly as she brushed him off. Nico and her started having a short conversation, that Frank wasn't really listening too. He was much too busy nursing his hurt pride to really pay any attention.

"Uh, Annabeth, it'd be best to move on…" Percy said, hearing a rustling behind him.

"Hmm, what Percy?" she asked, twirling around. "Oh, it's probably nothing."

"Annabeth, nothing is when a bunny hops out."

"Because bunnies are both terrifying and extraordinarily dangerous," giggled Annabeth. "Honestly, Percy, you are too high strung."

"Annabeth, I swear, something's wrong." Percy said. Hazel sat back on her heels and looked up. Nico bit his lip, fearing the worst.

The seriousness in Percy's tone made Annabeth pay attention. "What do you think it is?"

"I don't have any clue yet, but the air smells strongly of taffy swamp…" Percy said nervously. Frank snorted.

"Well, of course you'd know that smell, you're-"

"Don't even, Frank. We don't have time for stating the obvious. We have to get out of here and find Jason. Do you think he forgot where we were?" Percy asked.

"Or what he was doing?" asked Hazel nervously.

"Or... maybe he remembered everything." Leo strode into view. "Hi, guys!"

"Leo!" Hazel exclaimed, grabbing him into a hug.

"Hey, everybody! Hey, when did Leo get here? Wait, when did Hazel get here? Did I miss something?" Jason asked as he followed Leo into the clearing. Piper put a hand on his arm.

"Jason, you brought us here." Piper said, looking into his eyes with worry. Ever since he'd been hit by the Hera Virus, she's been worried that he'd forget everything, especially her.

He blinked slowly a few times, concentrating. "Wait... I remember now." He smiled brightly. Piper let out a sigh of relief.

"Guys… let's go…" Percy urged, sensing the taffy smells origin was getting closer. He tensed, preparing to run.

Frank groaned. "Seriously Percy, how bad could it be?"

And that's when they discovered just how bad it could be. A huge green beast rose up from the peppermint grass. It roared, spraying taffy chunks all over the characters. Gross. Frank gulped. "Ok, you were right."

Everyone one scattered, except Nico, who stood his ground, staring with fascination at the monster. "What is it?" he whispered in awe.

"The curiosity of an unlocked character killed the team!" Annabeth murmured. Percy turned back.

"You're doomed if you don't run!" shouted Frank. Percy followed the monster with his eyes. Of course, it had to have some sort of reason for coming from it's swamp. And then Percy dashed into the monster's path.

"Percy!" Annabeth screamed, and Frank shouted something inaudibly. Percy skidded to a stop right in front of Nico. Percy stared the monster right in the eyes. It stopped in confusion.

"You and I? We understand each other. Our roots are similar. Now don't hurt my friends, please? Come on. You're lonely right? Everybody gets that way. Doesn't mean they get to go on an eating rampage." Percy said firmly. Nico peeked over Percy's shoulder fearlessly.

"You can talk to it? What is it? Where does it come from?" Nico asked. Percy looked at him.

"It's a taffy swamp monster." Percy said. "And anyone can talk to it. You wanna talk to it?"

The monster growled indignantly. Percy looked at it apologetically. "Sorry! Do you wanna talk to her?"

Nico nodded, wide eyed. "Yes please." He stepped forward, looking the monster in the eye. The other characters watched from the bushes in amazement as he tried to start a conversation with the monster.

"Um, hi." Nico said. The monster held out an enormous sticky hand. Nico grimaced. "Um, no thanks, I'm not one for sticky hand shakes…" He smiled crookedly.

"Go on, Nico, this is the only time she has for socialising before her dad comes home from the Molcanoe." Percy said. Nico looked at him curiously. But before he could ask his question, Leo started cracking up.

"What is it?" Nico asked, pointedly annoyed. Leo stood up.

"Be careful, or you'll end up being her date to prom!" Leo grinned. Hazel swatted him. "Be nice!"

The monster moaned something to Percy. Percy listened and responded, "Oh, that's too bad. I'm Percy, you?"

The monster roared very loudly. Percy grinned nervously and looked at Annabeth. "You're name's… Daffy?"

Annabeth snorted with laughter and ducked down. Percy turned back to the monster. "Well, goodbye!"

The monster shambled away.

Percy watched it go, then turned to Nico. "Right." he said. "I don't believe we've met." He smiled warmly.

"Yeah," complained Leo. "Who are you?"

Everyone started pushing forward, yelling and asking questions. Nico shrunk back, scared by the noise and confusion. Annabeth pushed her way in front of him, blocking the crowd. "HEY!" She shouted. "Back off." She glared at them, and they did so. Clearing her throat, she collected herself up. "Frank, Jason, and I found this boy. I summoned all of you so you could meet him, and welcome him," she glared pointedly again. There was much uncomfortable shifting. " not terrify him. We think he's a newly unlocked character." She smiled at Nico. "Is that true?"

He looked nervously at her for a moment, then nodded a little too hard. "Yes. Absolutely. That's it, I'm a newly unlocked character." He held out a hand. "Nico di Angelo."

Everyone took turns shaking Nico's hand. He seemed a bit nervous at first, but gained confidence slowly. After they were done, Leo stepped back and looked Nico up and down.

"Hmmm, so you're lemon drops, huh?" He asked

"What?" Nico looked at him blankly. Leo pointed at the design on Nico's shirt. A lemon, with the words "Lemon Drop" beneath. Nico looked self consciously at his shirt. "Oh, yeah." He looked back up at Leo. "What candy are you?"

Leo smiled devilishly, and pulled a red, oval shaped object from an ammo clip across his chest. He twirled it in one hand. "Hot Tamales!" He tossed the object into the air, where it exploded, raining powdered cinnamon down on everyone.

Hazel stepped forward and gave a small wave. "I'm rock candy."

Annabeth held out a large, smooth, yellowy disk. "Smarties." Nico took the candy tentatively and nibbled at the edge

Jason leaned back with pride. "I'm… wait, what am I?"

Piper grabbed his arm sadly. "Jason is Pop Rocks, and I'm sweetened honey."

"Honey's already sweet." Nico said, his eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

She smiled, toying with the honey comb barrette in her hair. "Yes, but I have sugar added, and sometimes flavoring." She pulled out a stick of honey, turned a bright red color. "Cherry flavored honey, anyone?"

"Yeah, you could say Piper's the… honey bun… in the group." Leo said with a sly grin.

Annabeth choked. "Leo, that's a terrible pun. Just offensive to the definition of grammar."

"Well, don't get your… Smarty Pants in a bunch." Leo replied, grinning.

Percy smiled. "That one was funny." Annabeth punched his shoulder.

"Ow..." he said, hurt. Then he smiled. "I'm fine." He nodded at Nico. "I'm saltwater taffy, specifically blue saltwater taffy."

"And I am animal crackers. I'm also lactose intolerant, does that make sense? Aren't one of my ingredients milk?"

Hazel poked his arm. "Couldn't it be soy milk? Or almond milk?"

"Hmmm," Annabeth considered the science. "I guess it could be either of those, as in the cookies, the milk probably is more of a flavor than part of the chemical reaction."

Leo groaned loudly. "Annabeth, are you trying to bring logic into this world? I refuse to be governed by the rules of logic! I mean, Percy just had a conversation with a monster made of taffy named Daffy! I reject your reality, and substitute my own!" He whipped out a cinnamon stick and ran around, fighting with air like he was trying to keep logic in check. Percy laughed and then noticed something.

"Guys, look! Beach!" Percy exclaimed.


End file.
